Chia Yu Chian : Still Life With Wine Jugs 1967

Chia Yu Chian had studied at the Ecoles des Beaux Arts art academy in Paris during the late 1950s and was a prolific artist throughout his life. Still life painting was one of his fortes and this particular work, revealing syncretic qualities incorporating Western and Chinese influences, is indeed a most accomplished work. The flat empty, pale blue background on which the table exists, reminds us of a traditional Chinese painting devise emphasising the empty void. It heightens, in this case, figure/ground relationships. The aerial perspective view of the tilted table top with its placement of things, which include a fish, a crab and lemons plus the two wine jugs placed on the floor, has allowed for a suggestion of airiness and weightlessness. The forces of gravity have been considerably reduced as is the case in traditional Chinese still life paintings. One half expects the fish and the crab to slide downwards. The rich, painterly treatment of the oil medium is however expressive, modernist and Western. This is clearly a painting about the subtle formal synthesis of differing cultural values, influences and sensibilities. . .

Extract from "Masterpieces from the National Art Gallery of Malaysia" ~Redza Piyadasa

Still Life With Wine Jugs 1967, 76cm x 58cm, Oil on Board